


Love and Other Drugs

by Hesdeadjohn



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Drug Use, Johnlock - Freeform, Multi, Unilock, University, uni - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-27 18:17:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2702567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hesdeadjohn/pseuds/Hesdeadjohn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's John's second year as a medical student, and finally a relationship of him seems to have a future. But his partner has a dangerous habit and John is also affected by it.<br/>Sherlock has already finished his natural science studies and helps out at the Yard. His life is quiet, exept for the few murderers he hunts down occasionally.<br/>When John and Sherlock meet at Bart's, both lifes take a major change, and not only in the good direction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

A few months ago, John would have laughed in amusement, and maybe in shock, if somebody told him what he was about to do.

He would have said that this is not him, that he never could be that stupid, he was a medical student for fuck’s sake. They have dealt with drug usage in their very first semester in med school. He could name every single drug, how they were taken, what they did to the body, short- and long-term effects, what the best method of rehab was.

And still, there he was, sitting in a dark room with another person, spoon in one hand, lighter in the other.

“C’mon John, do it,” said the voice, much darker than it normally was. “I know you want to.”

He lit the lighter, melted the substances on the spoon, and the other person sucked it up with a well-used syringe.

“There you go.”

John took the syringe, looking up. And as he saw into those beautiful blue eyes, he aimed and injected the substance into his veins.

 _That’s what love does to people_ , he thought, as he felt the soothing effect of the heroin started to take hold.


	2. Chapter 2

_3 months earlier_

 

“Oi, Watson!”

John looked up when he heard his name. Derek stood a few meters in front of him, talking to Mike and Megan.

“Hey mate, what’s going on?”

“Not much, we were just talking ‘bout you.”

_Great._

“Really, why?”

“Because it’s your-“, Mike started, but Megan stopped him.

“Because we all have no idea how we will pass the module without your help.”

“That’s not quite true”, Derek muttered under his breath.

“Soo, we were wondering if you could come over on Friday and help us with MNS?” Megan continued, ignoring Derek.

“Sure,” John sighted, “Your place then?”

“Yep,” she said sweetly. “We’ll meet there around seven.”

“Seven it is.” John forced a smile, hoping it didn’t look too faked. He knew they wouldn’t learn for Medical Neuroscience, they would try to make him drunk, especially as it was his birthday on Saturday. Too obvious. Who would learn on Fridays anyway? Megan was sweet, but sometimes she could be a bit dull.

“I got to dash, my sister’s in town for five days, got to pick her up from the station”, he excused himself and left.

“Tosser”, Mike mumbled.

“I like him”, Megan smiled.

“I bet you do.” Derek shot her a strange look.

 

***

 

“Johnny Baby is getting ooold!”

John tried to suppress a sigh.

“C’mon baby brother, give your favourite sister a smile.”

“You’re drunk Harry”, the blond man stated.

“Well, of course I am! How else do you think I was able to survive that train journey?” Harry Watson frowned at her brother.

“By reading a book, maybe?” John suggested. “It wasn’t that long anyway.”

“It was.”

John just ignored Harry. That were going to be five long, very long days.

 

***

 

Before Harry came, John had already hid all his alcohol. He knew she would find the bottles sooner or later anyways, probably sooner, but he hoped to have at least a few hours with a sober sister.

Harry being sober was not very common during the last three years. In fact, John only saw her without her smelling of alcohol twice. One time when she had a job interview in London and she didn’t drink for the two days Harry stayed with her brother. When she came home from said interview, she already killed half a bottle of vodka. The other time was when she was too ill to go out and John simply refused to get her the precious drink of hers while taking care of his sister.

The alcohol dependence of his sister split John’s family apart. Their parents got divorced when they were teenagers. Mr. Watson, constantly nipping at a beer that time, abused his wife; she always excused him and blamed herself. But when Harry came out as gay, their dad started to hit her, too. John, only being thirteen at that point, was torn apart between needing a male role model in his life and seeing his mum and sister hurt. But he realised that his father could never be the role model he wished for, so he talked to his aunt, who helped him convince Mrs. Watson to finally leave her husband. John, Harry and their mother left the house and lived in a small flat since then. Money was always short, but they were all better off without the abusive man. Still, it was a difficult time, for John’s mother never lived her own life, she always lived for her husband, constantly trying to please him. So she had troubles getting used to her new live, often needing John and Harry to help her and to tell her what to do. But eventually, she was able to manage on her own, so Harry left home when she was 18. Moving together with her current girlfriend maybe just wasn’t the best idea, because when the relationship ended three years later, Harry developed a new relationship with a friend called alcohol. Strong alcohol. Mrs. Watson tried to help her daughter the first few months, but she soon gave up. She was mad at Harry for developing the same addiction that caused her father to hit the female Watsons. But Harry simply didn’t care, she continued drinking herself into oblivion and sleeping with every woman that was not completely straight. With their mother ignoring Harry, John was the only one left to care about her. And he did, even though he hated her for making their family life even more complicated that it already was. John’s mum couldn’t understand him, she told him just to leave Harry, but he couldn’t watch his sister drinking herself to death, and John knew that their mum would probably harm herself if something happened to Harry, even if she was not able to help her herself. So John, just 18, started to take care of Harry. Bringing her to bed when she came home drunk (she moved back in when her relationship with Olivia ended), even getting her undressed got normal to the younger one of the Watson siblings. But when John moved out and stated to study medicine in London, things got more complicated. He was able to manage though, and since Harry had a new girlfriend she wasn’t as dependant on him as before.

Experiencing a sober Harry was not John’s favourite way of passing his evenings; she was the Wicked Witch of the West in person. But still better than her being drunk. And as always when they saw each other, John tried to discuss the topic rehab.

“Harry, why won’t you go into rehab? It’ll help you, and you could get your life straight.” John didn’t even try to supress the sigh that came up his throat.

They were sitting in the living room of the flat John was sharing with a literature student who mostly stayed at his girlfriend’s, so John basically lived there alone. It was getting dark, and John knew that it wouldn’t be long until Harry demanded some alcohol.

“I’m gay John, there’s no way I’ll live a straight life.” It was clear that Harry didn’t want to talk about it, but there was no point in arguing with his brother.

_Just get over with it, then you can have a nice glass of red wine. Or something stronger._

“Harry, you know what I mean! You are 24 for fuck’s sake, DO something with your life!” John took an angry sip of his tea and tried to calm down

. “Careful baby brother, or you will burn your tongue”, his sister said sarcastically, but it was too late. John felt the pain on his tongue, but, faking a smile, he tried not to let Harry see.

“Harry please. You are my sister, I really care about you. And mum does too, even if she can’t show it. We are really worried about you and you know that. And your new girlfriend, what’s her name again? I don’t think she will keep up with your shit much longer.”

“Jo. Her name’s Jo. And don’t you dare to interfere in my relationship, okay? We love each other, and Jo thinks my alcohol usage is not that problematic anyway. And it really isn’t!”

“I’m a medical student Harry! I think I know when alcohol is a problem, and for you it really is, it has been for three years. Ever since you destroyed that relationship with Olivia!” John started to get angry. He really loved his sister, but he couldn’t watch how she destroyed her own life any longer.

“How dare you?!” Harry stood up and took a step towards John. “I’m not the one who ended that relationship, and it’s none of your damn business anyway!”

“If you continue like that, you will lose everything, even the people you love, you know that, right?” John tried to stay calm, knowing that shouting at her would make everything worse.

“I don’t know who you mean, John.” And with that, she grabbed her coat, purse and mobile, tried to pull her boots on as fast as possible, which made it only take longer, and stormed out, slamming the door.

“Great.” John muttered, knowing that she would be very pissed and probably not alone when she came home.

 

***

 

He was right, Harry was very pissed and very not alone when she came back.

John woke up because some… interesting sounds came from the living room. She was sleeping on the couch while she stayed with her brother, and John was so gonna make her clean that sheets tomorrow.

Grabbing his iPod and plugging the head phones in, John turned around and tried to get some more sleep.

 

***

 

Two days later, John was so close to throwing his sister out.

He was quite shocked when he found out who Harry brought home. Amanda, John’s ex. He knew Amanda had a new boyfriend, and Harry had Jo, so they had a row on how reckless Harry was. And she simply didn’t care. She said John shouldn’t be upset, for Amanda wasn’t his girlfriend anymore anyway, and that Jo was more like an on/off girlfriend for Harry.

It was Friday evening, and John was about to get ready to help Megan on the others ‘study’, when Harry came into the bathroom.

“Baby brother, you’re not planning on coming back tonight, are you?”

“Don’t call me like that Harry. I’ll be 21 tomorrow. And why?” He tried to style his blond hair into something you could call hairstyle, but there was no way. He needed to wash out the product and let his hair do what it wants.

“Because I have plans for myself tonight, and I don’t want you to stand between them.” Harry smiled at John through the mirror.

“You are not using my flat as harem are you?” John asked, half joking.

“Actually that’s my plan.” Harry said calmly, and her brother wasn’t too sure if she was serious about that.

“I don’t know if I will come back, but I’m not planning on not coming back. And Liam is here, he had a row with his better half.”

“Who’s Liam?” Harry sounded confused.

“My flatmate?” John turned around, finally given up with his hair, and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, right. Well I can take care of that.” And with that, she left the room.

“God, please let me still have a clean and tidy flat when I come back.” He sounded seriously concerned.

John undressed himself again to take another shower, getting the product out of his hair.

When he was finished, he put his clothes back on and left the flat without saying anything to his sister.

 

***

 

Megan’s flat was small, consisting of a bedroom with barely place for a bed, a bathroom and a kitchen/living room area. But it was cosy and she had it all to her own.

John leaned against the counter, talking to Mike with a beer in his hand.

"You knew this wasn't about MNS, didn't you?"

"Mike, I'm not stupid. It's my birthday tomorrow and it's friday night. Nobody learns on a Friday night, seriously." John raised a eyebrow at his friend, knowing that he hates secrets just like him.

"Megan was really determined to set this up. I think she likes you." Mike smiled at John.

"What, Megan? I thought there was something between her and Derek?" In fact, John knew very well that Megan had a thing for him, but he wasn't ready for another relationship, since the one with Amanda did not end that well. She ran off with her new guy, and then John found her sleeping with his sister. He shuddered at the thought.

"Derek has a thing for her yes. But she's always watching you."

"Yeah, whatever. Thanks for helping me out earlier, by the way." John frowned when he thought back to what happened a few minutes before their conversation. Lilith, a friend of Derek's, who John didn't knew, basically jumped at him and tried to stick her tongue into her throat. Ew, thanks, no. When he saw John's discomfort, Mike pretended that he tripped and sort of kicked her from John. It was really funny, especially as they were all a bit tipsy.

"No problem mate. You should have seen Megan though, she looked like she was about to kill Lilith."

"Just leave it Mike, I don't think I'm ready for another relationship yet." John sighted.

"But you like her, don't you?"

"She's sweet, yeah."

"Then you should at least talk to her. Tell her that you're not ready yet. She's nice, I like to have her as a friend and I don't want to lose her because of some dumbass."

"The dumbass being me?"

"Exactly." Mike grinned.

"You're probably right. I'll talk to her."

"Thanks John."

This was Mike, sweet and always thinking of others.

John made his way over to Megan, which was quite hard because there were _a lot_ of people in the small flat by now. He knew like half of them from med school, but who the others were, he had no idea.

 "Hey Megan, do you have a minute?" John asked when he finally made it to her.

"Sure birthday boy, what's up?" She ashed, sounding a bit tipsy.

"It's not my birthday yet." John smiled. "However, I uhh... I just wanted to tell you that... I really appreciate the work you've put into this party and uhm..." He scrached his neck.

"John stop stuttering around, what do you want to say?" Megan knew John well enough that she knew when he was uncomfortable telling something, and she sobered up very quickly.

"Yes, right. Megan, I know you fancy me. I think it's not that big secret. And, you're really sweet, but..."

"But you have a girlfriend." The small girl stated, her eyes getting bigger.

"No, it's not that." John sighted.

"You're single?" Megans voice was full of hope again.

"Yes, I am, but listen Megan. I'm not ready for a relationship, not yet. I really like you, but I'm sorry."

Megan felt like somebody ripped her heart out of her breast. And then, suddenly, she started to smile.

"Megan?" John was confused, obviously not expecting that reaction.

"You know John, what makes you think that I want a relationship?" She asked cheekily.

"Uhh, I don't know? Probably that you are a girl?"

"Oh, John, seriously? Only because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I need a relationship. Sometimes, they are far too complicated, and even girls are looking for something simple now and then." She tilted her head, looking at him.

John had to swallow. He knew what Megan was suggesting. And he liked it very much. With her hazel brown hair, grey eyes and tiny figure, Megan was exactly John's type, and he wanted to be as close to her as possible, only without a relationship.

When John couldn't take it anymore, he closed the distance between them, cupped her face with his hand and carefully kissed her.

He felt her smiling, and when Megan was kissing back, she put her arms around his neck to be even closer to him.

It was a good kiss, not to soft, not to fierce, and John didn't regret it.

Suddenly, Megan's kisses became more demanding and desperate, and normaly John would have stopped it right there, but he felt the desire, too. It had been five months since the break up with Amanda, and John has had zero sex since then. So he didn't care about the people in the flat, he didn't care about Mike and Derek staring at them, he just cared about one thing, and that was how to get Megan out of that cute dress as soon as possible.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is my first attempt to write a fanfiction with an actual story line, be gentle :D  
> English is not my mother tounge, so please do excuse any mistakes.


	3. Chapter 3

When John got up the next morning, Harry was still asleep. And of course, Amanda was with her. 

_What the heck?_

John really needed to talk to her later. But now he just needed a cup of tea.

Standing at the counter, he grabbed a mug and started the water boiler. John leaned back and thought about last night.

John never really fancied Megan, he liked her, yes, but nothing more, but that night he was just too drunk to give a fuck and she was kind of cute.

When John had broken the kiss to get some air, Megan dragged him into the bedroom, where they had very nice sex. As they emerged from the room a bit later, John realised that Derek was missing, and Mike was throwing him knowing looks, but he didn't give a fuck and just went home. It had been past midnight anyway, he was just tired.

The water boiler clicked, and John prepared his tea. He knew that he had to talk to Megan about last night, and that Mike would definitely discuss this over a pint or two. But not today, not this weekend at all. His mother would call that morning, and he still had a sister to take care of. Thank god she was leaving tomorrow.

Grabbing his mug, he went back to his room and checked his mobile. Eight messages from people who congratulated him, three messages from Mike, one from Megan, and two missed calls, one from Mike and one from his mum. Bugger. She already tried to call. Well she would try again in a minute, so he answered the other messages.

_John, where are you? You've just vanished man, I couldn't even say Happy Birthday. - Mike_

_Was the sex that bad? - Mike_

_You know that we are going to discuss this the moment I see you again, right? Just let me know when you have time. - Mike_

**Hey, Mike. Sorry for just vanishing, I was tired. The sex wasn't bad, but I don't want to talk about it, not now. Ttyl. - John**

 

_Hi John, I hope you enjoyed the night as much as I did. If you want to repeat it, you know where you can find me ;) xx Megan  
_

**Hey Megan. I enjoyed the night very much, thanks. We'll see eachother in class :) - John  
**

 

Just when John hit 'send', his mother called him again. They had a short conversation, briefly talked about Harry who was still asleep in the living room, but that was it. John wasn't that much of a talker anyway.

 

He finished his tea, and fell asleep for another hour or so.

When he woke up, John heard voices coming from the living room. Knowing it was time to confront Harry about her affair with Amanda, he stood up and went out of his room.

"John! Happy Birthday.", Harry greeted him, dressed in nothing more than knickers and a tshirt.

"Thanks Harry", he replied shortly, throwing glances at Amanda, who stood in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, well, Happy Birthday from me, too", she said, obviously feeling uncomfortable.

"Amanda, please leave my flat."

"John, you can't just -", Harry tried to argue, but John just cut in.

"Yeah, I can. If you want, you can leave, too, Harry, but I don't want to have my ex here."

"He's right Harry, I should leave.", Amanda said, smiling at her.

"Well, I'm going to leave, too." the older Watson sibling added, trying to find her trousers.

"I am certanly not forcing you to stay Harry."

"Damn right, baby brother."

And with that, the two women left the flat, and John was alone.

Concidering that it was his 21st birthday, it might have seemed a little sad to sit alone in his flat and study, but John didn't mind, especially as some important exames were coming up.

 

Shortly afer John finished his lunch, his mobile startet buzzing and John saw the caller id.

Mike Stamford.

He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to Mike, but he picked up anyway.

"Hey, mate."

"John! Happy birthday. So would you please tell me what last night was about? You just vanished with Megan, and when you reappeared an hour later, you just went home without a word!"

"Yeah, sorry Mike. I just, I don't know, I suppose I was tired and I don't like birthdays anyway and I just wanted to sleep."

"Was the sex that bad?"

"MIKE, NO! I already told you, it wasn't bad, and I'm not speaking to you about it."

"So it was not good, I see."

"Nope. You know what, just nope. If you just want to talk about sex and ignore what I'm saying, I'm gonna hang up right now." It was obvious that John was getting a bit angry.

"Mate, I'm sorry. You know I'm just confused, because you said you weren't ready and stuff."

"I know, and I'm not ready for a relationship yet. But who says that Megan wants a relationship?"

"Uhh, okay. I'm even more confused now. Fancy a pint? I think we need to clear some things up."

"Yeah, sure. Down at the pub, in 30 minutes?"

"Yup, see you!"

"See you."

John suppressed a sigh when he hung up. It wasn't exactly his plan to go to the pub today, but he knew that there was no way around it.

 

 ***

 

 "So, you are telling me that Megan, who is a girl, only wants sex, and not a relationship?"

Mike looked into John's eyes, knowing that he would be able to see if his best friend would lie.

"Yeah, that's what she told me, and I believe her."

"I see."

"Mike, look, I think this will be good for me. I finally need to come over Amanda, especially as she's slepping with Harry now, and I think Megan could help me."

"Wait, WHAT? Amanda sleeps with Harry?" Mike eyes widened.

"Yup."

"Harry as in Harriet Watson, female?"

"Yes, and listen, I really don't want to talk about it." John sighted and finished his second pint.

"Yeah, but seriously mate, this is so funny." Mike was barely able to keep his laughter back. "I mean, a bloke is in a relationship with a girl, she breaks up with him, six months later he finds her shagging his sister in his flat. That is tragic."

"Just leave it Mike. Listen, I gotta go, nice to talk to you, see you on Monday." With that, John payed his beer and left the pub.

"Shaggin' ain't done him any good" Mike said to his glass and finished his pint as well.

 

***

 

John hadn't seen Harry since their row on Saturday. She probably stayed at Amanda's for the last night and then went back home on Sunday, so he didn't mind at all.

Uni had been a bit strange though. Mike acted quite normal, as did Megan. They talked the way they did before and agreed to meet up the next weekend. But Derek was ignoring him. At all, he was avoiding the group, talking to people he never talked before.

"Hey guys, do you know what's the matter with Derek? He's been behaving strange since the weekend?" John asked Megan and Mike on Wednesday when they were having lunch.

"Oh god, never mind him John, he's been an arse for far longer, didn't you realise?" Megan replied, stuffing the last bit of her sandwich into her mouth.

"No he seemed pretty normal to me actually. Mike, what do you think?"

Mike just looked between the two of them.

"You honestly don't know, both of you?" he asked then, frowning.

"No?"

"What should we know?"

"Megan, Derek is so in love with you, has been for at least the past two months, how come you didn't realise?" 

"Derek is what?!" the brown-haired girl asked, obviously taken aback by that statement.

"He's head over heels for you Megan. How could you miss the signs?"

"I don't know, I realised he behaved a bit odd, but nothing out of the ordinary." Megan mumbled.

"And now he's pissed because I slept with you, great." John realised, looking at the her.

"Well I'm sorry, but how should I have known? And I'm honestly not interested in him."

"I should talk to him, tell him that it's nothing serious between us, don't you think?" John asked, but Megan declined.

"Please don't do that. He doesn't have a chance with me, and that would only bring back his hopes. I like him, but just as a friend."

"So you're saying we should lie to him, pretending we're in a relationship? Because I don't think I want to do that."

"No, what I'm saying is that we don't tell him anything, it isn't his place to know anyway. If he decides to stay away from us because of of this... situation, then so be it. That's his loss."

"I think Megan's right" Mike interfered, "we should give him some time. He'll be fine."

"If you guys think so." John said, not happy about the idea, but still understanding why Megan doesn't want Derek to know what's exactly going on between them. Derek isn't stupid, sooner or later he will realise that there's nothing serious between them.

"Yes, we think so" Megan smiled and then tried to throw a tissue into the bin.

"Close, but no banana!" Mike laughed, as Megan cursed and stood up to put the tissue away.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Detective Constable Greg Lestrade has been working for the London Police Force for four years, two of them in the Criminal Investigation Departement, but still he wasn't prepared for what he was about to see when he walked in on the crime scene.

Three bodies, naked, two women, one man, all were hanging from the ceiling with ropes around their necks. The first woman was only covered in bruises. The man was barely recogniseable, body as well as face studded with fresh knife wounds, the longest reaching from his right shoulder over his belly to his left hip. His face was swollen, and he was missing an ear.The wounds on his back looked like he had been whipped. But the last woman was the worst. She didn't have as many bruises or cuts as the other bodies, in fact she only had one wound. It was a few inches below her belly button, going from one hip bone to the other. And it was deep. So deep, that her guts had fallen out. One could still see the blood beneath her where they must have hit the ground, but the actual intestines were nowhere to be seen.

Greg felt sick. He covered his mouth with his hand, just to lessen the smell.

"Lestrade, why don't you help outside, secure the crime scene, meet the forensics?" DI Miller asked him, clearly sensing that he wasn't coping well.

"Yes, thank you Sir." he replied relieved, and left the room.

Once outside, he took a deep breath and walked over to other police officers who were already done securing the crime scene. Of course there were already bystanders, trying to get to know what happened here, but Greg and the others successfully ignored them. Ignoring civilians was the first thing one learned on the force, but it was still important to keep an eye on them so that nobody unauthorised would get on the crime scene.

Suddenly, Greg heard shouts from inside the building.

"WHAT THE FUCK? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? THIS IS A FUCKING CRIME SCENE!" the DI shouted, sounding very angry and very pissed of.

"Oh crap." Greg ran inside as fast as possible.

"LEAVE THIS BUILDING RIGHT NOW" DI Miller was talking to a skinny bloke with short black hair and a dark hoodie. "Ah Lestrade, would you please remove this person from the crime scene and take him into custody, bring him to the Yard. I really want to have a little chat with him when I'm finished here. And with you too, by the way."

"Yes sir." Greg walked over to the man and folded his arms behind his back. "I'm arresting you because of hindrance of police work and unallowed entering of a crime scene. All you say can and will be held against you."

"Oh this is ridiculuos!" a surprisingly dark voice muttered.

"Ridiculous? I'll show you ridiculous!" the Detective Inspector started to walk towards them, but Greg hurriedly dragged the person out of the building before anything worse could happen.

He lead the man to one of the police cars and drove off to the yard when the forensics team arrived at the scene.

 

Half an hour later he sat back in the chair in one of the interrogation rooms, barely warm coffe in his hand. The creep from the crime scene sat opposite of him, clearly uncomfortable, but Greg didn't care. He wondered how the hell that person got on the crime scene, and what he wanted there anywhere. And he knew that he was about to get in trouble for this, because Greg had been outside and supposed to secure the crime scene when he got in. But he had no clue how that guy had managed that, and Greg knew he hadn't done anything wrong.

"I know how it happened." the man said.

Greg tried to ignore him.

"Don't you want to know?"

"I'm not talking to you, we have to wait until the DI is back, and that could take a while." Greg muttered into his cup.

"Rules, boring."

"Well, you know, if you would have followed some rules we both wouldn't be sitting here right now."

"But it's a win win situation, isn't it?"

"In which way?"

"Well, you weren't comfortable at the crime scene anyway, and I just solved my first triple murder." The man showed a smug smile.

"Sorry, you did what?" the constable was obviously taken aback.

"Isn't it obvious? You ordinary people are so dull. The bodies, I know how they died."

"Now that's impossible. Why would you say that? Just to annoy me? Honestly, it won't work. Making false assumptions will only make it worse for you, if I'm honest."

"Those are no false assumptions. I came to a clear conclusion by looking at all the facts available at the scene." The skinny bloke looked a bit offended.

"Seriously, you have been at the scene for how long? Two minutes? And anyway, WHY were you there at the first place? And how did you get in?"

"I though you wouldn't talk to me until the Detective Inspector would be here?" he said, now with the smug grin back on his pale face.

"Oh screw you." Greg was annoyed. Who the fuck does that bloke think he is? Acting like a fucking snob, pretending he solved a triple murder case by just looking at the corpses for two seconds.

"A person I know contacted me, he was the one who found the bodies at the first place." the man said, sensing that there was not much left of Greg's patience.

"We were contacted by a homeless who broke into the building to find some place to sleep."

"Yes."

"Okay. And why did he contact you?" Greg knew that the DI would ask exactly the same questions, but it would probably be hours until he came back, and he was curious about the person in front of him. He was not like others, Greg knew that.

"Because I told him to if he saw something... unusual. I find these things quite interesting."

"You can't say that."

"Can't say what?"

"That you think bodies are interesting. That's just wrong!"

"Why? It's fascinating. How much it takes to kill somebody with something, how chemistry is involved in the decomposition progress, everything. People exhaust me, but corpses are brilliant!"

"Okay, look. I still think that's sick, but I'm not going to argue with you. Just promise me you won't tell that the DI. He'll get you locked up for the rest of your life."

"I don't understand why, but they always say that it's wrong, so okay."

"You've done this before?" Greg raised an eyebrow.

"I've never been at an actual crime scene, but I've been to a few places occasionally before the police arrived."

"I did not hear that. Let's just pretend you didn't say that, okay?"

"That's probably for the best. But I can assure you that I never contanimated anything."

"I hope so." Greg was stunned. This person had an actual problem, it couldn't be healthy to be so facinated by bodies, could it? But he was also curious.

"So what do you think happened?"

"Happened?"

"How did they die?"

"Oh, I see. It's rather obvious, don't you think?"

"No, actually I don't."

"You have seen the crime scene for a rather short amount of time. Let's see what you were able to take in, shall we?"

"What makes you think I haven't been in that room for long?"

"Oh please, now that's the most obvious thing ever. You came from outside when I was already inside, and the whole force hadn't been long there because you only got the information 30 minutes earlier. Now you, what did you observe?"

"Okay, fair enough. Uhm, three victims, two female, one male. The male in his late thirties, cuts all over his bodies, looked like he has been whipped. One female covered in bruises, early to mid thirties I'd say, and the other one with her guts cut out a bit younger, maybe late twenties. Haven't been there for that long, wounds were fairly fresh. And they all died around the same time, so no big differences in general state of the corpses." Greg concluded.

"That's what everybody saw. You have to observe, there is far more!"

"Uhm. The ear the bloke was missing wasn't in the room, as well as the guts of the woman. So the murderer must have taken them with them? That's disgusting."

"What about the injuries. They are quite different, what do you make out of that?"

"The worst injury is definitely the stomach wound. But she probably would have died soon enough because of the blood loss. The most painful one are the whip wounds. The maybe the murderer wanted the man to suffer most?"

"Yes, that's very good actually." Ice cold eyes looked at Greg.

"I just don't know what to make of the other woman, there is no obvious case of death, maybe an internal injury or something? I have to see the forensic report first to know more about her."

"So what is your general opinion?"

"I think the man and the younger woman were the main targets. Maybe the other woman just got in the way and had to be disposed as well. But it's clear that the murderer's main focus was on the other two."

"Very good indeed. Intention of the killer?"

"No idea. I mean, I don't know anything about those people, how they are connected, if they are connected at all.There are some typical motives, jealousy, anger, breaking of trust, revenge, obsession, secrets that need to stay secrets, whatever. But there are also just people that kill because they can, because they like it. Those are the worst in my opinion."

"If the murderer would have done it out of pure joy, don't you think the older woman would be in a far worse state. Nobody who kills because he wants to leaves the target with that little visible injuries, in my opinion."

"Yeah that's probably true. So what, murder because of a secret, money, or just good old jealousy?" Greg joked a bit.

"It was in fact jealousy. But you will never catch the killer."

"Why not?"

"Because it's the older woman."

"No way!" Greg exclaimed.

"It's true. She was married to the man, but he cheated on her with the other woman, who was pregnant with his child.Very pregnant in fact, if the guts appeared by now there should be an 8 months old foetus, dead of course. So actually, depending on point of view, it was a quadruple murder. Fascinating. Anyway, the wife cut out the baby, and tortured her husband, I think he was  mourning the death of his affair and thus not bothering to fight back."

Now Greg just stared at him. "You got to be kidding me!"

"I am not."

"But why does the older woman have all those bruises?"

"Well, she had to get her victims where she wanted somehow, and the man clearly fought against his wife when she was working on the other woman. And she probably gave herself some of them, to make it look like she had been a target as well."

"And how did she end up naked, hanging from the ceiling?"

"There was a chair in the room, she would have needed it to get the ropes up there anyway. When the other two corpses were hanging, she must have gotten rid of everything, clothes, guts, the whip, knife, baby. Then she must have climbed on the chair herself, wrapped the rope around her neck, and kicked the chair aside while clinging onto the rope. There were slight burn marks on her palms. And well, when she let go, she died of a broken neck."

"So she's the killer?"

"Yes."

"How did you know about the marriage and the baby?"

"The older woman and the man both had imprints of a wedding band around their fingers, but they weren't wearing one. The imprint of the man was stronger, so she probably took her's off earlier, and took his only after she killed him. They should be with the rest of the evidence as well. And for the pregnant woman, well, an eight months old baby is quite big already. The woman, who was rather thin, had a lot of excess skin on her belly. It wasn't really visible because of the wound, but it was recognisable."

"That is amazing. Honestly, absolutley amazing. A bit creepy though."

"You believe me?" the man asked Greg.

"I actually do, yes. Now that you explained everything I can see it. But you know that we can't use any of this in the investigation, right?"

"Yes I know. Police work is so dull, honestly. But you know the truth and can set a lead or something."

"And I damn well will."

A  longer silence followed afterwards as Greg was trying to process what he had just learned.

"What's your name anyway?" he suddenly asked.

"Sherlock Holmes" the man said, "and your's?"

"Greg Lestrade."

"I think you will come far on the force. You observe better than some DIs."

"Well... Thank you?" Greg tried to hide a blush, not very successful. He was never good in taking complimens.

That was the moment DI Miller decided to enter the room.

"Well well well, you" he pointed at Sherlock "are in very big trouble for being on that crime scene, and you, DC Lestrade, are in trouble for letting it happen in the first place." With that, he let himself fall into another chair and started the interrogation.

 


End file.
